Carton



Feb. 26, 1946. s. LIGHTER 2,395,553

CARTON Filed April 3o, 1942 IIl m" I;

Patented F eb..l 26, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENToFFlcE CARTON stephen Lighter, Milwaukee, wm Application April 30, 1942, Serial No. 441,160 2 claims. (ci. zoe-44) The present invention relates in general to improvements in the art of packing diverse commodities for storage, transportation and merchandising, andrelates more specifically to an improved carton for facilitating confinement of a group of individual articles or independent packages.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved article conning and display carton, which is simple in construction andeiilcient in use.

Many diierent types of cartons for simultaneously coniining and displaying a group of nested independent articles such as soap bars or individual packages of diverse commodities, have heretofore been proposed and used with varying degrees of success; and it has been customary to utilize window openings covered with transparent sheet material in numerous prior display cartons in order to enable the purchasing public to see the confined articles when the cartons were stationed for display purposes. In most of these previous display cartons the structures were materially weakened by the provision of the window cut-outs, and the use of the window coverings entailed considerable added expense due to the labor and materials involved. .In the previous cartons wherein the windows were not provided, the display feature was either omitted, or the enclosed articles could be displayed only by opening or removing a part of the carton structure.

In all prior types of display cartons, excess stock was either utilized or stock was wasted in forming the boxes, and most of them lacked the `desirable strength and rigidity, due to weakening of the structures in order to introduce the display characteristics therein.

It is therefore a more specific object of my present invehtionto provide a new and useful box or carton assemblage for simultaneously effectively conning and displaying a group of nested smaller articles or packages, and which is durable in construction and can be produced with minimum stock. y

Another specific object of the present invention is to provide an improved package for a nested group of smaller articles, boxes or packs, wherein the smaller units are not only most eiiectively confined and protected, but are constantly visible for display purposes.

A further specific object of my invention is to produce an eiective article coniining and displaying` carton in a simple manner from a ribbon of cardboard stock or the like and with minimum waste of material.

Still another specic object ofthe invention is to provide an improved carton structure which can be manufactured at moderate cost, which may be 'collapsed and compactly stacked for storage and shipment, and which is adapted to be quickly and conveniently assembled and loaded. An additional speciiic object of this invention is to provide an improved article housing and display box which is attractive in appearance and obviates necessity of applying thereto content identifying printed matter by constantly subjecting portions of the coniined articles to view, and which is moreover exceptionally strong and sumciently durable to withstand rough handling.

These and other objects and advantages of the improvement will be apparent from the following detailed description.

A clear conception of'an embodiment of the invention, and of the mode of utilizing my improved article confining and display cartons, may

be had by referring to the drawing accompanying and forming a part of this specification wherein like reference charactersA designate the same or similar parts in the various views.

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of a flattened and dismantled carton embodying my invention, portions of the elongated opposite side walls having been broken away so as to shorten the structure;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a package utilizing one of the improved cartons, one of the side walls having been broken away to reveal the crosssection thereof and one of the adjacent confined articles having been omitted;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through the package of Fig. 2, taken along the vertical plane of the line 3 3;

Fig. 4 isla transverse section through the package v4of Fig. 2, taken along the vertical plane of the line 4 4; Y

Fig. 5 is an enlarged transverse section through the carton blank of Fig. 1 taken along'the line 5 5 and showing the edge flanges collapsed;

Fig. 6 is a similarly enlarged transverse section through one of the carton walls showing the edge flanges naturally distended; and

Fig. 7 is another likewise enlarged transverse section through the same wall showing the edge flanges clampingly engaging adjacent coniined articles or packs.

While the invention has been illustrated and described herein as being embodied in a relatively long and narrow carton formed of a single sheet ofcardboard and adapted to coniine a nested group of small packs of a particular shape,

it is not my desire or intent to thereby unnecessarily restrict the scope or utility oi the improvement which is advantagesously applicable to cartons of various sizes and shapes.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawing, my improved carton blanls may be continuously produced from an advancing sheet or ribbon oi.' cardboard stockfand each of the successive carton blanks severed from the advancing ribbon comprises a single unitary blank having two elongated side walls 9, I and a pair of shorter end walls II, I2 alined with and hingedly connected to the adjacent side walls along transverse score lines I2. The free'end of the side walls is provided with an integral transversely scored flap I4 having tongues I5, I6 formed thereon, and the v end wall I2 which is farthest from the side wall l is provided with slits I 'I with which the tongues is important, and each of these flanges comprises Y an outer portion 2l foldably connected to the free edge of the adjacent Wall; an inner narrower flange portion 22 foldably connected to the swinging edge of the adjacent ange portion 2I, and an attaching portion-23 foldably connected to the inner edge of the inner iiange portion 22 and being adhesively attached to the inner surface of the adjacent carton side wall, see Flgs.`5, 6 and 7. The inner edge of the flange portion 22 is disposed a slight-distance away from the corresponding inner edge of the adjacent portion 2I, thereby constantly biasing the ilange assemblage toward the inner surface of the adjacent wall, as shown in Fig. 6. The flange portions 2i, 22, 23 are all formed from the same sheet of stock from which the remainder of the carton is formed, and in order to cause the flanges I9, to be permanently inwardly biased toward the `interior of the carton so as to clampingly engage a lgroup of nested articles 24J housed within the carton, these retaining flanges I9, 20 are preferably formed with the portions 2i, 22, 23 thereof in superimposed and compressed relationship 'as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 5. When the ilanges Id, 20 are so formed and the adhesive which connects the portions 23 with the adjacent walls 9, I0, II, I2 has dried, the flanges I9, 20 will naturally assume positions such as shown in Fig. 6 during initial assembly of each carton, and will resiliently clamp the intervening packs or articles 24 when the carton is nally loaded. As shown in the drawing, each article 24 consists of an independent package such as a cigarette pack of rectangular prismatic shape, but these articles 24 may be bars of soap or other commodity, or they may be other types of packs, preferably of regular and uniform prismatic shape so that they can be closely and neatly nested.

When the carton blanks have been constructed as above described and are still in collapsed condition as shown in Fig. l, `then they may be stacked and snugly confined in groups for convenient storage and shipment, and when it is desired to load the cartons it is lonly necessary to assemble the blanks in the manner shown in assauts Figs. 2, 3 and 4. When a carton has been thus assembled by causing the tongues IS, IB to lnterlock with the slits I'I, the assembled carton may be readily loaded with a group of.nested articles 24 and the flanges I9, 20 will then resiliently engage the adjacent surfaces of the articles 24 and will maintain the same snugly confined. The openings at the top and bottom of each carton and between the flanges I8, 20 thereof provide enlarged windows through which the confined articles are constantly visible, and the relatively thick and resilient flanges besides dening the margins of these window openings, also materially re-enforce the adjacent side walls 8, l0

and end walls I'I, I2 and thus provide a durable carton assemblage. In large cartons, the flanges I9, 20 are relatively narrow as compared to the open top and bottom of each carton, thus saving considerable stock by virtue of the fact that no top and bottom enclosure is necessary.

From the foregoing detailed description it will be apparent that my present invention provides animproved carton structure which is simple and durable in construction and which is moreover highly effective in actual use. `The improved cartons can be readily and quickly manufactured from a continuous ribbon of stock and at minimum cost, and when assembled,`the cartons not only protectively connethe articles 24, but siduced with the improved cartons are extremely neat and attractive in appearance, and by virtue of the fact that the conned goods is constantly open'to view, it is unnecessary to provide the cartons with printed matter for the purpose of identifying the contents thereof. The articles 2d are moreover readily removable from the cartons without removing covers of other parts of the assemblage, and the improvement has proven highly successful in actual use.

It should be understood that itis not desired to limit this invention to the exact details of construction or to the precise mode of use, herein shown and described, for various modications within the scope of theA claims may occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A carton comprising, a series of hingedly connected walls forming a collapsible article embracing band, each of said walls having integral continuous' article engaging flanges extending along its opposite edges and inwardly with respect to the adjacent article engaging wall surface, each of said anges consisting of an outer strip directly hingedly connected to the adjacent wall edge, and an inner slightly narrower strip normally disposed at an acute angle relative to said wall and having one edge connected to the swinging portion of said outer strip and its opposite edge secured to said wall surface inwardly of the hinge which connects the outer strip to the wall, whereby said flanges are biased to swing toward each other and toward said wall surface and may be collapsed thereagainst.

mally disposed at an acute angle relative to said 1o wall and having one edge connected to the swinging portion of said outer strip and extending toward said wall surface, whereby said anges are biased to swing toward each other and toward said wall surface and may be collapsed thereagainst, and a ilange retaining strip securing the opposite edge of said inner strip to said wall surface inwardly of the swinging connection between said outer strip and said wall edge.

STEPHEN LIGHTER. 

